Microsoft has just announced a November 22nd launch date for the Xbox One game console, eight years to the day that the company launched the current Xbox 360. Many fans of that console may wonder how long Microsoft, and game publishers, will continue to support the Xbox 360.
In a presentation this week at the Citi Global Technology Conference, Xbox chief marketing and strategy officer Yusuf Mehdi stated, "If you look at 360 that platform lasted for seven to eight years and it"s going to go for another three years." That would seem to hint that Microsoft is looking at the year 2016 to end support for the Xbox 360.
It"s possible that Mehdi meant that there will be no more games released for the Xbox 360 after 2016. Even if that does happen, it"s likely that Microsoft will continue to support the console in terms of its hardware and its Xbox Live service beyond that date. We have emailed Microsoft for clarification.
Mehdi also said as part of his presentation that over 100 Xbox 360 games will still be released for the Xbox 360. He added, "We"re going to continue to invest in Xbox 360, and the two devices can work in concert. So it"s not like the day we ship Xbox One your 360 won"t work. We"ll continue to support it."
Source: Microsoft | Image via Microsoft